Staring Contests
by jamesthestagwhore
Summary: "Are you telling me this isn't weird?" she asked, still not breaking eye contact. He grinned, "Not at all."


**AN:** Short, silly, and not about much but I had fun writing it. Part of a word war challenge.

* * *

"Stop staring at me, Potter," she snapped in Transfiguration one Tuesday.

He just smirked at this.

"Oh, Evans, I never stare at you. Stop wanting me to."

...

James Potter most certainly does not stare at Lily Evans. Absolutely not. In fact, never has once stared at Lily Evans. Never.

It just so happened that he line of vision stumbled upon her as she accidentally swallowed that whole toffee. And, you know, the entire five minutes before she swallowed.

It was lucky really that James happened to be looking over at her, which was a completely unprecedented occurrence of course, because at that moment Lily started to choke.

James, having stared at her for the first time ever might I add, was quick to act.

He immediately rushed across the common room and to her side, put one arm around her front, and used the other to thump her back.

She looked a little taken aback but that might have had something to do with the sweet stuck in her throat.

After much thumping, the toffee came flying out and landed on a table not far away. Its occupants looked rather disgusted but to be fair it was covered in the saliva of one Lily Evans.

Lily leant back against the wall behind her, breathing heavily and raising a hand to James which he supposed was her way of thanking him.

"Is that all I get?" he asked."

"Sorry," she said through heavy breaths. "What did you want?"

"Well, I did just save your life. A proper thank you would be nice."

"You'll take what you're given. Besides, I reckon you got a good feel of my boobs there, Potter, that's reward enough."

He scoffed. "I think you might overestimating the power of your boobs."

He received a shove of the shoulder for that.

So much for staring. What had he gotten out of it? This must have been why he had never stared at her ever before. Nope. Definitely never stared at her before.

...

Lily Evans had never once allowed herself to stare at James Potter. Ever.

She had certainly not closely monitored the way in which he ruffled his hair, tapped tunes out with his fingers on the desk, and ate his mashed potatoes without waiting for them to cool down.

That would be ridiculous.

It just so happened that her eyes had found him across the greenhouse. That's how she knew he was using the wrong size of pot. It just so happened that she noticed. She hadn't been staring, if that's what you're implying. She most definitely hadn't been. Ever.

"You're doing that wrong you now?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, looking up from his pot. "What makes you say that."

"You picked the wrong size pot."

As he glanced quickly around him he noticed that she was in fact right. Everyone else was using the big white pots and he was using the much smaller brown one.

"How'd I miss that?" he wondered aloud, scratching his head as he did so.

"Because you were doodling snitches when Professor Sprout was giving the instructions," she said before turning and walking back to her own pot before he had a chance to process what she had just revealed.

But it wasn't as though she had been staring at him.

Her eyes had just happened to find him and they had just happened to linger on him for the first twenty minutes of the lesson. That was all.

...

She didn't have to look up from her book to know that James was staring at her.

"Potter, you're staring at me again," she said, not moving from her incredibly comfortable position in the arm chair closest to the fire.

"I am," he admitted, sitting on the floor a few meters away.

"Why?"

"Because it's fun. In fact, you should join me."

"I should stare at myself?" she inquired.

"No you should stare back at me."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Because I'm very nice to look at."

She stuck her tongue out and he threw a pillow at her.

"Oh, come on," he coaxed.

"Wouldn't it be weird if we were just staring at each other?"

"No."

"Really?"

"No."

"Fine," she snapped, shutting her book and sliding down on the floor to sit opposite him.

Lily stared at James. Right into his eyes, refusing to blink as she did so. James stared right back, refusing to smile.

"Are you telling me this isn't weird?" she asked, tilting her head to the side a little but not breaking eye contact.

"Not at all."

"It is weird."

"No it's not."

The corners of her mouth twitched a little but she did not smile or blink. He appeared to be showing the same reluctance to make any sort of movement. It was as though they were stuck in some sort of unplanned staring contest.

He couldn't believe his luck. He was staring at Lily Evans with her full knowledge and participation. They were close as well. If he wanted to, he could try to count the freckles on her nose.

He wasn't bad to stare at really. His eyes were a rather lovely shade of hazel, but she kept catching her own reflection in his glasses and this made her want to giggle.

Just as she was about to give in and laugh, James' eyes closed in a sudden sneeze.

Lily's face was very close to James' nose. Thus she had received a certain amount of spray.

"Sorry about that," he said, trying to grin. "You're not upset with me are you?"

"Put it this way, Potter," she said sweetly. "Next time you want to stare at me, bring a tissue or something."


End file.
